North Devon County constituency
North Devon shown within Devon, and Devon shown within England
Created:	1832, 1950
MP:	Nicholas Harvey
Party:	Liberal Democrat
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Devon
EP constituency:	South West England

North Devon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 3.1 1832-1885 3.2 1950-present 4 Election results 4.1 Elections in 2000s 4.2 Elections in 1990s 4.3 Elections in 1980s 4.4 Elections in 1970s 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Boundaries

This constituency covers the north of Devon in the South West region of England. Although it shares the name as the North Devon local government district, it covers a slightly larger area to the south, including parts of the Mid Devon district. The Liberal Democrats and their predecessors the Liberal Party have historically shown a strong performance in this seat, which was held for two decades by former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe. He lost it in the 1979 General Election after the intense controversy surrounding his relationship with homosexual Norman Scott, and alleged involvement in a plot to murder him, of which he was found not guilty the same year. After a 13-year hiatus, Liberal Democrat Nicholas Harvey regained the seat from the Conservatives in 1992 and still holds the seat today, having retained it comfortably in the 2005 General Election.

[edit] History

The North Devon constituency was first created in 1832, as a result of the Reform Acts. Before that, the area was part of the Devon constituency. Between 1832 and 1885 the constituency elected two MPs to parliament.

In 1885, the constituency was split up into various divisions, however in 1950, the North Devon constituency was recreated, covering a smaller area than before.

[edit] Members of Parliament

[edit] 1832-1885

Year	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1832		Viscount Ebrington	Whig		Hon. Newton Fellowes
1837					Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bt	Conservative
1839		Lewis William Buck
1857		James Wentworth Buller			Hon. Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis	Conservative
1865		Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bt	Liberal
1866					Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt	Conservative
1885					John Moore-Stevens

[edit] 1950-present

The Member of Parliament for the constituency since 1992 is Nick Harvey of the Liberal Democrats.

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Christopher Peto	Conservative
	1955	James Lindsay	Conservative
	1959	Jeremy Thorpe	Liberal
	1979	Tony Speller	Conservative
	1992	Nick Harvey	Liberal Democrat

[edit] Election results

[edit] Elections in 2000s

General Election 2005: North Devon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Nicholas Harvey	23,840	45.9	+1.7
	Conservative	Orlando Fraser	18,868	36.3	-1.9
	Labour	Mark Cann	4,656	9.0	-1.1
	UKIP	John Browne	2,740	5.3	+0.3
	Green	Ricky Knight	1,826	3.5	+1.1
Majority			4,972	9.6
Turnout			51,930	68.1	-0.2
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	-1.8

General Election 2001: North Devon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Nicholas Harvey	21,784	44.2	-6.6
	Conservative	Clive Allen	18,800	38.2	-1.3
	Labour	Vivian Gale	4,995	10.1	+0.3
	UKIP	Roger Knapman	2,484	5.0	+5.0
	Green	Anthony Bown	1,191	2.4	+2.4
Majority			2,984	6.1	-5.2
Turnout			49,254	68.3	-9.4
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in 1990s

General Election 1997: North Devon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Nicholas Harvey	27,824	50.8
	Conservative	Richard Ashworth	21,643	39.5
	Labour	Annie Brenton	5,347	9.8
Majority			6,181	11.3
Turnout			54,814	77.7
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

General Election 1992: North Devon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Nicholas Harvey	27,414	47.1
	Conservative	A Speller	26,620	45.7
	Labour	P Donner	3,410	5.9
	Green	C Simmons	658	1.1
	Natural Law	G Treadwell	107	0.2
Majority			794	1.4
Turnout				84.4

[edit] Elections in 1980s

General Election 1987: North Devon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	A Speller	28,071	50.9
	Liberal	M Pinney	23,602	42.8
	Labour	A Marjoram	3,467	6.3
Majority			4,469	8.1
Turnout				81.7

General Election 1983: North Devon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	A Speller	28,066	55.1
	Liberal	R Blackmore	19,339	37.9
	Labour	P James	2,893	5.7
	Ecology	R Joanes	669	1.3
Majority			8,727	17.2
Turnout				80.1

[edit] Elections in 1970s

General Election 1979: North Devon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Antony Speller	31,811	50.1
	Liberal	Jeremy Thorpe	23,338	36.7
	Labour	A. Saltern	7,108	11.2
	Ecology	A. Whittaker	729	1.2
	National Front	J. Price	237	0.4
	English National	Frank Hansford-Miller	142	0.2
	Dog Lover's Party	Auberon Waugh	79	0.1
	Wessex Regionalist	H. Rous	50	0.1
	Democratic Monarchist Public Safety White Resident	Bill Boaks	20	0.0
Majority			8,473	13.3
Turnout				81.7

[edit] See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Devon

[edit] References

• The Times House of Commons 1945. 1945. 
• The Times House of Commons 1950. 1950. 
• The Times House of Commons 1955. 1955. 

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